Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2020) 135: 82
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-00164-7

Regular Article

Comparative study of mass attenuation coefficients for LDPE/metal oxide composites by Monte Carlo simulations

Faculty of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, P.O. Box 3619995161, Shahrood, Iran

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Received: 19 June 2019
Accepted: 8 November 2019
Published online: 17 January 2020

Abstract

On the basis of photon–matter interactions landscape, γ-rays shielding effectiveness of light density polyethylene (LDPE) composites reinforced with different percentages of micro- and nano-PbO, WO₃, ZnO, and TiO₂ particles was studied. Using voxelization in MCNPX code, metal oxide particles with sizes of 100 nm, 1 µm, and 100 µm and proportions of 10, 25, and 50 wt% were designed inside a LDPE matrix. Narrow beam geometry was simulated to calculate the mass attenuation coefficient of structures against photons in a wide energy region of 0.015–15 MeV. Although the significant role of filler size and proportion in attenuating X- and γ-rays was confirmed, the results indicated that application of PbO and WO₃ particles in reinforcing polymeric matrix provides greater photon attenuation compared to those doped with ZnO and TiO₂ particles. Besides, it was found that attenuation performance of the LDPE/metal oxide composites is superior in the low energy range.